How do the non-economic goals of the current CEOs affect innovation in family firms?

Abstract

The paper investigates how the non-economic goals of the current CEOs affect innovation in family firms. A qualitative in-depth multiple case study of four family firms is carried out, in which the current CEOs’ non-economic goals are identified by direct interviews with the current CEOs themselves and with the members who managed the company before them (i.e., the predecessors). As a main result, the paper proposes a theoretical framework which explains the relationships between goals and innovation by identifying a series of managerial levers activated because of the peculiarity of the current CEOs’ non-economic goals.